School board holds January meeting

The Breckenridge ISD School Board met for their regular meeting Monday, Jan. 14 and conducted their normal business, including student of the month, collection reports and staff appreciation. They also extended BISD Superintendent Tim Seymore’s contract through 2021 and received presentations from each of the schools in honor of School Board Appreciation Month.

Each school from the district had student representatives present gifts to the school board members in honor of School Board Appreciation Month. Some of the gifts included letters to the board members, potted plants for decoration, and candy. Other gifts included portraits of each board member from students enrolled in art class, and wooden plaques made by students at the high school.

The board also announced the students of the month, with each student’s principal reading a letter written about why they were given the award. The students of the month are:

• Jocelyn Rodriguez - East Elementary School

• Paisley Herring - North Elementary

• Luke Carey - South Elementary School

• Kameron Isbell - Breckenridge Junior High

Congratulations to these students.

On the regular agenda, the board approved an agreement between them and the West Texas Food Service Cooperative. This is the service the district goes through to purchase their cafeteria food at a negotiated rate. Seymore called this a “no-brainer” because the district is not obligated to use them, so the district is free to pursue different options if they choose. But Seymore said this would be rare as large amount of districts west of Fort Worth are in the cooperative.

The school board went into executive session towards the end of the meeting to discuss Seymore’s contract, which they voted to extend through June 30, 2021 when they reopened the meeting.

Regarding tax collections, the board reported 41.29 percent of 2018 taxes had been collected through Dec. 31. This compares to the 41.97 percent collected up to that point in 2017. Seymore added January is when they see the most taxes come in. The district also gave enrollment numbers, which sit at 1,472 as of December 2018.

The School Board also received a report from the Financial Integrity Reporting System of Texas, which is something the board receives every year. The system graded BISD with 100, which is a perfect score. The score is broken down into 15 different categories, with 10 having point values assigned to them, according to the agenda’s background material.

BISD Superintendent Tim Seymore said this is the first time since he has been in Breckenridge he has seen the district receive a perfect score. Seymore said the district got a 98 last year and a 96 the year before that.

“I’m pretty proud of that,” Seymore said in the meeting. “But it also means the board has helped us make good decisions and helped us do things to get our finances in good shape.”

On the consent agenda was two budget amendments, which included rebate money totaling $14,000 from the lighting and air conditioning projects the district did in 2018. Seymore said the money would go back into the budget, and his plan is to try and replace the marquee sign by the high school, which is currently not functioning. They also got some insurance money due to a roofing truck tearing down a fiberoptic line behind one of the schools.

Other business discussed included rescheduling their March meeting. They have moved it to March 25, due to Spring Break.

The Breckenridge ISD School Board meets on the second Monday of each month. Their next meeting will be at 6:30 p.m., Feb. 11 at the BISD Administration Building.